Our Hero Academia: Chapter 25
Play and Catch Quite a far point. Akira Wareashi thought she had reached quite a far point in this Festival, winning or losing, she was already in the Top Sixteen. A heavy breath went out of her mouth, as her lips pressed forward, this was the fifth round, she had watched the previous ones, she knew how it was. Arms stretching a bit, Akira exercized briefly and walked towards the arena at the middle of the stadium. Much like before, Akira gave almost no attention to the crowd, she didn't receive much cheers anyway. She had came from the eastern side of the stadium, quickly reaching the arena and taking a glance upon her opponent. "I am wishing you good luck on this," Akira beamed, offering a smile. Standing not to far away from her, Midori had her hands shoved into the pockets of her tracksuit pants as she awaited for the battle to start. The bland expression on her face was normal, but could be misinterpereted for confidence and boredom by those who haven’t seen her before. Looking at Akira, Midori had her face tucked into the upturned collar that she flipped around her neck, which was long enough to reach the bottom of her nose. “Same to you wheels.” Midori muttered in a muffled but somehow clear enough tone. Even though she knew Midori since their first year, Akira still couldn't read her well- "Pf-" Akira's cheeks inflated, but then, her mind quickly reminded her that this was the real deal. Her eyes sharpened and she took a single step forward. The knees bent, the arms backward, a blink, Akira vanished. No sound. The little dust behind her erupted offwards, the ground beneath cracked, it seemed as if Akira had leaped forward, but, in reality, it was just another step. When the sound came, the wind followed, pushing everything lightly. It was a step that, over the span of a second, sent Akira to Midori's surrounds, however, another step was taken, the ground far to Midori's right cracked, a blurr visible for a second stood over it. "We both know each other's quirks from last year, this is not like with Jack." Akira couldn't rest too properly since the Cavalry Battle, but theirs being the fifth round helped a bit. The next step cracked just next to the first one, making the ground erupt in a volley of assymetrical rocks towards Midori's figure, dust rose. And, it was in that time frame, that Akira became a blurr once again, her thighs' veins nearly exploding, as she manauvered her way around the onslaught and found Midori once again. That was it, Midori's quirk allowed her to evade, but not in a simple manner, that was why Akira used the speed and rocks to distract her. Even if it worked only for a second, for what she had planned, it could suffice. Akira spun, no, danced, across the arena, not seen due to how many spins she did, until she was close to Midori. Then and there, Akira rose and shot forward her left foot, along with her entire leg, making a ring of air erupt behind her, the atmosphere hissed. "HAH!" This hit aimed for Midori's right sides, however, it didn't have a straight pattern, but carried pressure to push away the dust that was beginning to encircle around them. Her other leg was at ready, standing into its normal position. Making the decision for her, Midori's body decided to brace more impact from Akira's kick rather than the rocks that came from the other side. Using her back to shield her from the debris, Midori crossed her arms and pushed her chest into them to make her defence more dense. Leaning towards Akira's side, Midori tried her best to counter balance the force that was sent through by Akira's kick, managing to be sent back a few steps the other direction. The striking leg that collided with Midori's arms sent a rush of pain through her body, causing Midori to let out a cry as soon as she was hit. The rocks on the other hand weren't anything different as Midori could feel her back being violently pelted by solid projectiles. Dragging herself away from the scene, Midori made sure to remove herself away from Akira as soon as possible. This was nothing that the class had seen before as Midori could only ever be seen moving out of the way rather than firmly standing in place. "You know wheels. Each and every one of us have changed a lot since last year. I'm no exception." Midori explained as she rolled her sleeves up to her elbows and cracked her knuckles. "When your quirk is already doing the more important work for you, you realise you have plenty of time to train the other bits as well." Moving into a battle ready posture, Midori looked around the environment with her sights on Akira. Closing her eyes, Midori could only wait for Akira to strike again. She wanted to let Akira know that she had more control over her quirk than the senseless first year Midori. "Alright then, show me what you've got." "I trust on that, Crane-san!" Akira responded at Midori's remark of all of them improving, "And agree, too." The last thing she would do would be to not recognize the efforts her classmates put into becoming heroes, into strengthening themselves. Untying her poinytail and using the band to tie it all into a bun instead, Akira too entered a fighting position. "I know how it feels to be branded solely by your quirk." In a blink and with a stern expression, Akira raced towards Midori once again, rising a cloud of dust behind her. Yet, she didn't crash into her opponent, instead, Akira stopped just before her, left foot still planted in the ground, while her right one rose to deliver several side and straight kicks into Midori's figure. Her leg blurred through the air, sending off several hissing noises. Making sure that she spun for some of these kicks, Akira aimed for her legs, sides, and arms, always reminding herself that her other foot should stand upon the ground. If her attacking one was caught, Akira already knew what to do, but, not that she wanted to further prolongate this, she knew Midori was more than worth the fight. The speed that Akira utilises was oddly too reminiscent to Midori's brother, giving Midori a chance to draw experience from her past confrontations for today's match. As soon as Akira had moved to Midori, her body instantly pulled her away from Akira making the green haired girl roll back in time from her opponent. Midori was working in sync with her quirk to make sure that Akira's attacks were not going to constantly hit her, and given how fast Akira was going, didn't leave much of a clear open window of opportunity to strike. "As much as I'd hate to say it, I don't know Akira's quirk as well as my brothers. Their speed and leg movements could be the only thing that is shared between them but that still isn't her quirk. I know she's hiding something from me." Midori thought to herself as she simply watched Akira kick into the air. "Let me see if I can try draw something out from her." Without hesitation, Midori brought herself up and moved towards the centre of the arena. Knowing that there could be little chance of being thrown out of the borders, Akira's main goal would have to be the other route of defeating her in combat. Lifting her arms in front of her, Midori squeezed her fists and prepared herself for another confrontation. This time, Midori kept Akira in her sights for a better reaction, if all went well then Midori could learn something from Akira's movements. "Her quirk greatly aids her with dodging everything coming," Akira thought, huffing some heavy breaths through her mouth, upon she noticed that Midori used the opportunity to get away. Her head whipped around to glance towards her opponent, it seemed that while Midori would be up for showing off her skills, she wouldn't be led to dance by Akira. It made Akira smile again. As soon as that nice feeling filled her stomach, Akira's legs whipped around just like her head, executing a myriad of side kicks. Like wings rapidly beating against the wind, these kicks not only made quite odd sounds, sending air everywhere, but also made Akira rotate. Looking like a full wheel, Akira cracked the ground beneath her and raised dust, easily reaching Midori's figure. She had known that Midori could pretty much avoid a barrage full-frontal, even if the dust clouded her vision a bit and Akira herself moved quite fast. Furthermore, if she didn't control herself, she would just go past Midori and reach out of bounds. That was why, concentrating all of her leg muscles and her waist, Akira made sure to continue spinning, though in place, stagnant. A small whirlwind formed around the arena, the dust and wind flying low from a distance. Vertical kicks flew, Midori would dodge, but, even more would come, at the same pace and in different spots, Akira spun even faster, creating a buzzing sound. Even if Midori moved backwards, Akira would follow, even if Midori tried stopping her through a strong grip, Akira's rotation would hurt her. ‘’”She’s fast. I need to know how’s she doing this.”’’ Midori casually thought as she was moving from Akira’s attacks. ‘’”Dammit wheels, you should’ve stayed in that chair of yours.”’’ Moving at a pace that would keep her from Akira’s constant attacks, Midori tried to see how her opponent was coordinating her attacks. She was careful withhow far she was going though, everytime she moved too far back, Midori would change the directions by dodging to a specific direction, making sure the battle took place in the center. She could sense that Aiko was watching from the crowd, she wanted to prove that she can do find without Aiko by her side. Her dodging pattern begun to change as Midori began moving to the sides of Akira to avoid her kicks instead of backwards or on the spot. By going to the extra distance, Midori would be well out of the way and force Akira to spin around to continue attacking. She was looking to make Akira dizzy from switching direction too much, or at the very least slow her down. Whilst it did take effort for Midori to coordinate the direction of her evasion, she hoped it would produce some sort of information. If that was to be Midori's strategy, Akira would accept it, assuming that she was trying to tire or even disorient her. They hadn't engaged in any kind of physical warfare directly, but, Akira didn't think she needed more to see just how much Midori changed since their casual fight last year. She honestly wished she had fought Midori during the Hero versus Villain training a few weeks ago. Tiring or disorienting your opponent was risky, however, Midori had the ability to take full profit of it. Her Quirk became a supplementary skill, not a support she leaned on. But, even then, for that very reason, Akira couldn't bring herself to ever stop trying, even if she knew her current strategy wouldn't work. That was why her trajectory changed within the frame of a second, while she still aimed for Midori, the way she did was what shifted. Instead of spinning vertically, Akira's rotating self laid sideways against the ground so that she would force out a specific dodge from Midori. From how close they were and how sudden Akira shifted, Midori would probably be prompted to jump and, whichever direction she chose, Akira was ready. Her rotation would culminate in yet another flurry of blurry kicks, coming from below to strike against Midori and send her off the boundary, who while mid-air had way less options for a dodge. The kicks, together, provoked an air boom. As much as Midori wanted to keep close to Akira, her body wasn’t having any of that. Pulling her away from her opponent as soon as she circled back close to the middle, the loud sound produced by Akira’s kick rung throughout the arena. Of everyone there, Midori was the most shocked by this occurrence. Whilst she knew that dodging would keep her from danger, landing an attack was certainly going to be a challenge. Her brother certainly had speed but this was throughout his whole body, compared to Akira whose legs benefitted the most. This gave Akira even more time to train on the movement of her legs, but this could be an opportunity for Midori if she played her cards right. Granted this was all from Midori’s knowledge of Akira’s quirk, there still could be things she hasn’t found out. Continuing the evasion, Midori concentrated hard on Akira and her movements. She was persistent and wouldn’t back down until an expected or unexpected opening revealed itself. Nontheless, she was ready to take both. Midori sped up her pace and timed her movements to flow into one another, making it as if she knew how Akira was attacking. ‘’”How can get her if I can’t even touch her?”’’ She thought to herself. Something sprung up on her mind however as soon as she said it. Although the chances do seem low with it working and how determined Akira looked to knock her down, it was worth a try. “You got something for Jack, don’t you?” Midori calmly spoke. Gritting her teeth, Akira couldn't help but widen her eyes at the sheer perseverance displayed by Midori. Humility apart, her blows, her speed, they weren't anything to frown at, they were acquired through both quirk training and physical prowess. A grunt, she was beginning to feel the overusage of her quirk on both legs, but, even then, stop she did not. With her resolve steeled, Akira dashed towards Midori and prepare to execute a barrage of kicks that would send shockwaves from both sides. So that Midori would be caged until she went out of bounds or, even, jumped, which would allow for a direct strike. Akira's eyes narrowed, this time, for sure- "What?!" She gasped, stopping in an impact against the ground with both legs, "S-Something- What are you on about, Crane-san?" Akira cried, waving her hands around, her eyes were designed like spirals then. The crowd surely wondered what they were talking about. Without a moment to waste, Midori shot out towards Akira as she was in her state of flustered, with her hand clenched in a tight fist aiming for Akira's face. Going for anywhere near the lower body would be pointless because of Akira's quirk, so anywhere higher would have had to suffice. "This can't be the moment I was waiting for." She thought to herself, thankful at least that now she could breathe for the short time she expected this window of opportunity to be open for. "Gotta thank lamppost later I guess. Couldn't have done it without him..." Before Akira could ask Midori again about what she had even meant or tried to say, with her eyes not dizzy, they could actually see and widen at the punch aimed for her face. "UAAAAAAAAAAH!" She cried, one eye closed with the impact and saliva flying off, her cheek smashed in. However, it was at that very moment that Akira didn't do the thing she despised the most. To have done nothing. Due to her constant training with Jack, Akira had surely gotten better with her reflexes, but, also with her gripping maneuvers. She had done it a lot, thus, to do it even when she was slightly out of breath from the punch was like a second nature. A reflex. With its immense agility, courtesy of her quirk, one of Akira's legs snaked around the close Midori at the same time Midori's fist left Akira's cheek, the other soon following as they were both mid-air. Akira didn't fully know if she suceeded in that split second. Yet, knowing what she herself planned to do and if Midori was indeed caught by the legs, Akira would also wrap her arms around Midori's shoulders and neck. They would both fall to the ground, still inside the boundaries, with Akira, if successful, restraining Midori at certain points. As Midori's fist left Akira's cheek, she could feel her body violently jerk to the side, making her fall to the ground as her feet stumbled on the ground. to others, this was the old Midori that they watched last year. Akira's legs were quick, they quickly clipped Midori's side, becoming more an attack rather than a grab. A blow for a blow was good enough for Midori, but this last second one would only drive her to try for another hit. Falling over to the side, Midori punched the ground out of frustration and brought herself back up again. "Should have allowed it wheels. I would have stopped there but I guess I really need to put you down now." Midori said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She was lazy that time, and she felt that she really needed to pay attention. With both her hands pointed, Midori went back to fight Akira once again, her eyes steady on Akira's position. Her experience with speed users seemed to be fair, as she was sure to keep up with Akira's movements. The only thing that was getting her through this fight was her quirk, nothing else besides that. The way she was running however went at a pace that was both face but cautious, as if she was ready to move away the second Akira tried to attack. It was as if Midori was following a plan by the way she moved, like a dance with specific movements and patterns, but one that no-one but Midori knew well. "You sure are slippery!" Akira tried, bending her knees and rising them until they were close to her stomach, then, she pushed herself off the ground and landed squarely. The air had fully filled her lungs then, her cheeks puffing whilst she steadied herself straight, a bruise was visible on one cheek. It was after that brief exchange that it dawned upon her, Akira's lips tugged downwards for a single instant, something she wished hadn't happened. How could she show such ungratefulness? Ungrateful... towards whom, though? In a blink, she went forward, in a blink, Akira had known and needed not to think of it anymore. Remembering her strategy of earlier, which was to be done before Midori caught her off guard, Akira pushed her left leg. Muscles tense, their veins were visible, the leg went diagonally, sending strikes and destructive shockwaves to both the right and the left sides, creating a "V". With her quickness, Akira managed to simultaneously do it for both sides, going at both would result in a hit. With her other leg, the right one, she tried pushing herself forward so that Midori would be caged in this line of attack and, once again, if she tried jumping, Akira would be there. Even then, Akira's lips were still tugged downward, her teeth biting at them. However, her eyes were sharp as teel and still focused upon Midori's actions. Both her legs ached after continuous usage, but, Akira knew this was a last chance. As the shockwaves approached, Midori found herself leaping out from the trap and opting to follow a similar manoeuvre as she did before; circling around Akira in order to evade her attacks. She was running out of options and the speed Akira was moving at made it hard for Midori to see if she was getting tired out or not. All Midori could do at the moment was wait for Akira to drop or stop, but even then, not risking coming close to attack in case it was a ruse. She found herself running as Akira's attacks followed just behind, the speed that they had triggered had issued enough space between Midori and Akira for the green haired girl to comfortably run not too far from her opponent. The shockwaves though on the other hand could be felt just behind Midori's back as she was running and jumping for her life, making sure that the approaching Akira would stay back by moving in a different direction during her evasion. Her quirk would give her the extra push she needed if an attack got too close, keeping her on her toes and aware of her surroundings. She needed to contain the fight in the borders, and ran in a way that encouraged Akira to stay within the boundaries. While many of her classmates had trained to strengthen their quirks, Midori chose to strengthen her body. Becoming notably more fit than the class, Midori could still fight on without the use of her quirk, and was well trained in order to compensate. All she could hope for is that her endurance could last longer than Akira's legs, as Midori ran around in a circle, making sure to move the other way if Akira was to switch direction with her attacks. "I'm not giving up now kiddo. I just need to prove myself just this once!" Midori encouraged inside her head as she ran. Akira's eyes widened, "I knew it. You're too strong for something as simple as this," They never stopped following Midori's figure, however, and while she didn't pay too much attention to her own movement, given that her opponent ran around the arena Akira herself hadn't walked away from the center. Which meant, she only had one single option left. She knew she deemed her latest strategy as her last one, but, seeing how things have gone with Midori, something else was possible. It brought no smile to her face, however. Creak, she hissed and bit into her lips. Instead of redirecting all of the power from her legs, Akira swung her leg a long trajectory, producing a shockwave half the size of the arena. Another one followed, launched by her other leg, and another, and another... Akira had taken to spinning horizontally, with one leg sustaining her body and the other raised. It took brief seconds for her to engage a full rotation and for a whirlwhind to emcompass her entire figure, sending dust and shockwaves in all directions, a continuous attack that sought to push Midori off, even if by one centimeter, the boundaries. Due to Midori's choice of maintaining Akira walking in circles, it meant that Akira stood upon the center, thus, there was little possible ways to escape all of this force. However, even as this happened, Akira knew that the whirlwind, with enough force to send breezes across the stadium, wouldn't last. Her lips bled at how much she bit at them, sweat cascaded down her whole body. After the half minute that she would manage to put this up, with such wind that anyone normal would be instantly blown away, Akira would fall down for sure. The sense of determination could be seen behind Midori's glare as she used her quirk to keep her from being pushed too far back. In her mind, Midori was trying to manipulate her quirk and sense in a way that recognised the outside of the boundaries as danger. This extra push she needed was a way for her to stay in the battle. Immediately dropping to the floor and keeping her body pressed to the ground, Midori clung onto the concrete as the ground shook from the shockwaves produced by Akira's legs. The less surface the waves had to push her with, the little the effect and chance it had of forcing Midori out of the ring. Nonetheless, she had positioned her body to lay in a way that gave her an easy escape if Akira was to suddenly spring into attack and try pin her down. Her arms and legs at the ready to push her out of the way. Hana Kojima herself, who was refereeing the fight found herself toppling backwards due to the extreme force that Akira was emitting with her attacks. Seeing Midori had fallen to floor made her think that the girl had been damaged, but Midori gave a slight wink to Hana as she remained on the ground. Hana knowing that the fight was not over yet, allowed it to continue. The audience cheered and cried, for joy and fear as Akira was kicking the arena around them with this powerful force. She couldn't notice the state that Akira was fighting in, and had nothing but respect for the opponent that was overwhelming her with all these attacks. The type of hero that Midori wanted to be was for quick easy take downs, not full on attacks that could reach this level. This was where Midori was lacking in a way, as she wasn't as well equipped for an all out offensive such as her other classmates. The true strength had lied in her defensive, a near impenetrable safeguard for the green haired fighter. "WHEELS!" Midori yelled out, even though the shockwaves muffled her cries. She didn't expect Akira to hear her out, but testing the waters is what Midori could do at this moment. "If she doesn't calm down she might hurt herself. And then Aiko will blame me..." The last few seconds that had Akira spinning were the ones where she was fiercest, but, also suffered the most pain. With the whirlwind ending, it disperssed into a horizontal column of dust that pressed offwards and against the ground, the very concrete Midori was upon erupted, breaking off the arena, and the wind passed through the entire stadium. The air stopped crying and, as the dust settled, a single not broken bit in the arena's concrete could be observed. Lying on top of it was Akira, who, specifically, sat at the ground. Her body sweatted tremendously and was covered in bruises, she clutched her legs, and blood leaked slowly from her mouth. She didn't notice how the rest of the arena was destroyed by the finishing bits of her attack and the pain easily distracted her from wondering if Midori had been sent flying as well. Furthermore, Akira's eyes were closed, though she tried to stand up once more, so as to signal the referee, Hana, that she wasn't down yet. With the arena floor cracked and opened, many parts of the surface had dispersed from eachother, with Midori out of sight until the dust had settled. Midori had laid on the ground, with her hands dug into the cracks of the ground to prevent her from being pushed out the boundaries. A sweat having building up as her legs curled up to her torso and kept her boy up incase the ground below her hand sunk. She was panicked, despite the bland expression on her face, and could be heard breathing in and out quite heavily. More so from shock than exhaustion. "Far out wheels, what the hell was that." Midori thought to herself as she slowly looked up. She noticed Akira in her sitting position and the ground she laid on destroyed, Midori was even more nervous about how the fight was turning out. Using her legs to push her up, Midori carefully tried to find footing among the cracked ground, using the surface of her foot to cover as many pieces of the floor as possible so that she may not fall. The ground below felt delicate and that the pieces were shifting if forced enough. At this point, some pieces could even be pulled out with the right amount of strength. Granted, some pieces already had been due to the power of Akira's attacks, and some debris had flown from Akira's side to Midori. Feeling a sharp stinging pain in her arms, Midori looked at them to see that some of the rocks had flown right into her body during the attack. Midori rolled her eyes and shoved her hands right into the pockets of her track-pants, looking over to Hana and nodding to show she was still in. Akira on the other hand received a more aggressive tone to her bland face. Even though it physically wasn't expressed on Midori's body, the vibe behind her being felt immensely hostile. Not so as a hate for Akira, but a determination to stop her in fear of the whole arena being torn down. She didn't even notice the damages that Akira had sustained as consequence of her actions, all she wanted to do was make sure that Akira would stop. "Hah..." Eyes partially losing their color, Akira tried glancing ahead while the dust settled down. "Hah," She panted. The blurriness of her vision fluctuated, she didn't even notice that her bun came undone and all of her hair went free, framing part of her face. Akira thought on blowing the hair away with her mouth, but, even as she thought so, she couldn't do it. The voices of the audience fell flat on her ears, she could only notice how her chest went up and down, her breath being the sole thing she heard. Midori was still within the arena, at least, that was as much as Akira could see. Still laying down, Akira pushed the ground beneath her, trying to crawl towards her opponent, "Hah..." Her face hit the dust for a moment, but she dug her fist upon the ground before it happened again. Part of her shirt was torn off, along with the clothing near her ankles. The way her legs ached sent a wave to her stomach and then to her mouth, which she soon clutched with an open palm, falling on her knees. Akira was too tired to notice Midori's gaze upon her. ”Could’ve stopped. But you didn’t...” Midori thought, mentally scolding Akira for hurting herself. Walking over to her opponent, careful of her footing, Midori approaching the fatigued Akira with an open palm. What looked like she was going out for an open hand shake, but as soon as the time came, Midori immedaitely smashed the side of her hand onto Akira’s head. “You idiot! You really did hurt yourself! Why can’t we go one fight without someone getting seriously hurt!” Midori scolded Akira, with a borderline irritated-bland tone. To anyone who could hear her, this was the closest Midori had to expressing any sort of emotion in a very long time. "...I'm-" Akira breathed out once she was struck by Midori's hand, "-sorry." Her eyes became spirals for a second and then blankened out, with her body fully hitting the ground beneath her, Akira succumbed to her fatigue and pain. Everything blacked around her and Midori's complaint fell on her ears, along with it, everything else escaped her sleeping mind. With Akira out cold, it was clear that the victory of the fight went to Midori, the paramedics were soon called to gather the both of them and check out for any kind of wound. "You better be." Midori whispered before placing her palm gently on Akira's head. She remained by her opponent's side as the paramedics entered the arena, watching as they carried a stretcher swiftly. Judging by Akira's damages, they should not be wasting any time.